MALAYSIA under Pakatan Harapan rule has made slow progress on human rights reforms, even backtracking in some areas, said Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The watchdog, in its World Report 2020, said nearly two years after winning federal power, PH has either “backed away from or delayed action on” its campaign promises.

In HRW’s assessment of the country last year, deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said the stalled reform process is due to a “lack of political will to stand up for principles in the face of political opposition”.

The report noted positive moves by the PH administration, including repealing the anti-fake news law, advancing a draft law to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), and strengthening parliamentary independence to consider human rights issues.

It also highlighted that the government continues to be vocal about Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya, but called out Putrajaya’s unwillingness to openly criticise China – Malaysia’s largest trading partner – over its treatment of the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

HRW found that Malaysia has positive intentions on several domestic fronts, but lacks the ability to realise them fully.

Halfway efforts

HRW said child marriage is allowed in Malaysia under both civil and Islamic law with the permission of a state’s menteri besar or chief minister, or the shariah court for Muslims.

Even though the government has announced stricter guidelines for all states, it said, the practice remains.

Other halfway efforts include backing down from a commitment to abolish the death penalty.

Instead, the PH administration is looking to end capital punishment for various crimes, with judges having discretion when it comes to sentencing.

The Sedition Act is still in place despite the pact’s election promise to do away with it.

The law continues to be used, “particularly against those criticising Malaysia’s royalty”, said HRW.

It is also used against those who speak out on matters involving religion, one of them being Klang MP Charles Santiago, who was questioned by police over his criticism of controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

Another “incomplete” reform is the amendment to the Peaceful Assembly Act, which still allows the criminal prosecution of rally organisers and participants, said the report.

On the National Security Council Act, PH’s promise to repeal it has been replaced with amendments – yet to be passed – that increase some of the council’s powers instead of curtailing them.

The act gives broad emergency-like powers to a federal agency under the Prime Minister’s Department.

The bid for greater police accountability through IPCMC, meanwhile, remains stuck at the legislative stage. A bill was tabled in Parliament last year, but is undergoing further changes.

HRW said some of the bill’s provisions raise concerns about the independence and authority of the proposed panel.

Problem areas

Freedom of religion, the rights of sexual minorities and the continued use of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) are areas where Malaysia has “failed to achieve reforms”, said the report.

It noted curbs on the rights of followers of non-Sunni branches of Islam, in particular Shias, and the state-sponsored sermons at mosques condemning the group.

Highlighted is a raid in September last year on a private event in Johor, where 23 Shias were arrested.

The report also mentioned Sisters in Islam, whose challenge against a fatwa to outlaw the Muslim women’s rights group was dismissed by the high court last year.

On the use of Sosma, HRW said the act, which allows for 28 days of preventive detention with no judicial review and provides for special trial procedures, violates the right to a fair hearing.

The law has been used against 12 men, including two DAP reps, to detain them for allegedly supporting the now-defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, it said.

The watchdog said the Prevention of Crime Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act both allow for detention without trial, with no judicial review.

The PH government, in its election manifesto, pledged to revoke the former and abolish “draconian” provisions in the latter. Neither has been done.

Deaths in police custody remain a problem, said HRW, adding that the standard of care for detainees is not up to par, given reports that suspects and prisoners have died from treatable illnesses.

The report said lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals continue to face “pervasive discrimination” in Malaysia.

Those found guilty of committing “sex against the order of nature” are imprisoned and whipped, while the country’s leaders perpetuate stigma and hatred against sexual minorities with their comments.

“Numerous state shariah laws prohibit both same-sex relations and non-normative gender expression, resulting in the frequent arrest of transgender people,” said HRW.

“Government officials, including Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, have made statements expressing a lack of support for the LGBT community.”

It said such statements include calling LGBT rights an “agenda” of Western countries and “unsuitable” for Malaysia, and the remark by Minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa, who is in charge of Islamic affairs, that the participation of LGBT folk in a Women’s Day march was an “abuse of the democratic space”.

Three transgender women were murdered in November 2018 and January last year, and no one has been convicted of these killings, it said.

There is also no outcome in the case of the brutal beating of a transgender woman by eight men in Negri Sembilan in August 2018.

Other laws and treaties

Malaysia has yet to renew efforts to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court after withdrawing because of backlash from the Malay community.

The promise to amend the Communications and Multimedia Act and Official Secrets Act, too, remains unfulfilled.

And even though the country hosts more than 150,000 refugees, Malaysia has yet to ratify the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention.

The report found Malaysia wanting in its treatment of asylum seekers, who are dealt with as if they are illegals and kept in “overcrowded and unsanitary immigration detention centres”.

Malaysia also breached customary international law protecting asylum seekers when it deported Egyptian dissidents, a Thai political activist and a Turkish family who held United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees cards.

HRW called for greater accountability for the country’s role in human trafficking by releasing the report on a royal commission of inquiry’s findings following a probe into mass graves in Wang Kelian along the border with Thailand.

“To date, no Malaysians have been held responsible for their role in the deaths of more than 100 ethnic Rohingya trafficking victims, whose bodies were found in the camps. The 12 police officers initially charged in the case were released in March 2017.”

Malaysia is among nearly 100 countries reviewed in the report. – January 15, 2020.